a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting structure, and more particularly to an assembly of a light-emitting-diode (LED) light source and a power supply interface, allowing an LED light source to be freely applied to all kinds of luminaries or to substitute for any traditional light sources, featuring an easy plug-in action.
b) Description of the Prior Art
With the advantages of having a high energy efficiency, long lifespan, durability, saving electricity, being eco-friendly and having a small volume, LED has become a new light source of great potential of various applications in recent years. In early days of its development, as the LED does not have sufficient luminance, its application is limited to pilot lights or display panels. However, due to recent breakthrough in the material science and the packaging technology, the luminance of the LED has significantly improved to the point that LED can replace traditional general lighting sources, such as an incandescent lamp, halogen lamp or fluorescent lamp.
Furthermore, LED emitting various wavelengths of light have been developed. In addition to the most common red light LED in the early days, there are now blue light, green light, white light and ultraviolet LED. There are also vendors who have developed a multiple-colored LED, in which red, green, and blue epitaxies are present simultaneously. As any color perceived by human eyes is formed by quantitative mixture of three primary colors of red, green and blue, any light color can be created by combining the LED of three primary colors and adjusting the electric current of each LED, including the white light at any color temperature. All these developments will enhance the potential of the LED in general lighting.
Nevertheless, when using the LED for the general lighting, following problems and shortcomings still exist:
1. The production costs of the LED light source are still higher than those of the traditional light sources. Mass production of the LED light source of the same specification must be achieved before the unit cost can be reduced.
2. Currently, one of the main approaches of using LED for general lighting is to replace the traditional light sources (the incandescent lamp, the halogen lamp or the fluorescent lamp), requiring the design of LED light sources to mimic the traditional sources to be replaced, in shape, size and power supply interface. This approach has the advantage of ready access to the market share currently occupied by the traditional light sources. The disadvantages may include difficult heat dissipation, spatial interference, increased cost, and not being able to access to other markets.
3. The other common approach of using the LED in general lighting is to build the LED directly into a complete luminary. This approach prevents the luminary end user from accessing the LED itself, therefore the light source cannot be easily replaced. This approach also prohibits downstream luminary manufacturers and designers, who lack the engineering capabilities, from integrating the LED directly into their products. This situation contradicts the need to manufacture LED in large quantities to reduce cost.